Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-09-02
FRIDAY MORNING. SEPT. 2. 1887
A STREET RAIL WA Y PROPO-
SITION.

A proposition, we learn, will be beforeth
Staunton City Council next Tuesday night
for the building Of street railroad lines
in this city. Strange to say, and also not
very supplementary to the eEterprlslng
spirit of our own citizens to say. it comes
from two wealthy and responsible citizens
of another town not as large as Staunton.
While the proposition is not one that
will likely be accepted, still it Is a start
ing point from which more reasonable
and more business like offers might come.
The petitioners for right of way propose
to build two lines of stree6 railway-one
from the d. D. q B. Institution In
straight line to the cemetery. and the 9th
or to run from the Valley depot by way OF
Greenville Avenue, New Court House
street, Augusta and other streets to the
Water Works. The petitioners propose
to commence the building Of the first one
in one year after having secured an act Ut
incorporation by the legislature, which
would bring it somewhere about 1852, and
the second. considerable length of time
thereafter. The right Of way On the streets
occupied is to be granted by the city for
ninety-nlne years.! The fare not to exceed
10 cents! Of course no such proposition
as this could find supporters in our City
Council, but if the proponents are IN
earnest, as we have no doubt they are,
and view a street railway in Stanton as
q paying property, as it certainly Will oe,
they should substitute for their PROPOSE
tion the following-a permission from
the city and no delay for legislative
action; the work to be commenced On the
first road in thirty days after the City
Council grants the right Of way and that
line to be completed and running In three
months from same date; the right OF way
for the second line to be granted on the
same terms, whenever applied for and to
whoever may apply; the right of way to be
granted for Fifteen years instead OF ninety
nine; the fare not to exceed five cents, and
tax on the net profits of the company to
be paid into the City Treasury as fund
for opening and keeping up park for the
people; any omission to operate the road
1tE 6ubllS lCUSUu 1Ol pWOhVJ OoASSS~
tive hours Except as the result of natural
causes such as snow, flood and the Ike to
forfeit the privilege. and the company to oe
at liberty to surrender its right of way
and remove it's plant whenever it finds it
Improbable.
/ The reader will observe that these are
very different stipulations from those pre-
sented by the petitioners. They are terms
in operation in many of the cities in the
United States where street cars are run,
and are fair all around. They guard
against rights Of way acquired and then
held for speculative purposes; they assure
the city proper remuneration for the oc-
cupation of it's streets, and they assure
the actual building of the lines. But even
il these terms should-be agreed to. we still
think it not very creditable to Staunton's
own enterprise that its citizens who have
capital should not have before the Coun-
Gil competing proposition. We rather
think it is because few of them have looked
INTO the matter as active and enterprising
men from other cities have. Street rail-
way lines are very different things now
from what they were some years ago.
When horses were used,a long line, sever
al miles in length, in Baltimore for in
stance. had to pay 81 day for motive
power now electricity supplies it at s1,75
a day. In Richmond where horse line
has struggled for years to cover, say five
miles of line, an electric street car COM
pany is now building tgelaty, eight miles OF
line. With electricity car can mount
Gospel Hill at the rate of fifteen miles an
hour If desired; under the old system a
double team Of tug horses would have had
to be kept at the foot Of the hill day and
night. It is among the owners Of outlying
property on the edge of the city that such
line should get its large subscriptions.
and among the Main street merchants in
front of whose stores it would run. While
we have no fear that the City Council o.
Staunton will forget the peoples Interest
SO far as to grant away SO years right tt
anybody. or give right of way without {
royalty on the receipts paid into the city
Treasury, still we hope the move will sti
up our citizens into competition and re-
suit in placing before the Council more
reasonable and advantageous proposition
DRAWING TIP SENA TOR MA